Rudolf Dassler originally named his company Ruda, combining the first two letters of his first and last name. His brother Adolf Dassler or Adi as he was known, combined the first three letters of his first and last name when he launched his company. The two worked together before deciding to go their separate ways during World War I. Things have changed since then. Today Adidas is telling the story of Adi Dassler in one of their latest campaigns, but Ruda doesn’t exist anymore. The name was changed to Puma in 1948.

Puma is the third largest sportswear maker trailing Nike and Adidas. This week Puma announced that Hussein Chalayan (twice named designer of the year) will be the new creative director for the entire line. Recently French luxury group PPR acquired a majority stake in Puma. They bought a majority stake in Chalayan’s label too. PPR is more commonly associated with other labels in their portfolio like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Puma is about to get more interesting design wise(couture even). They have come a long way since Ruda, although Rudidas could have been an interesting name as well.

Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, Strategy, VCU Brandcenter